The Brambles Alchemy Hollow
Entrance In the back office of the Wonderland Wine Bar, there is a blue door. It is blue on both sides; it leads directly from the office into the courtyard, but it's old and battered and rarely used. If someone wants to go from the office into the courtyard or vice versa, they go through the main bar. Still, it's a picturesque old door, even if it doesn't quite fit the rest of the bar. On either side of the door, on the wall next to it, is a small drawing - black and white line art from the original ''Alice ''books that the bar draws its name from. On the inside, the drawing is of Alice speaking to the Cheshire Cat; on the outside, well-framed to protect it from the elements, it's Alice discovering a small hidden door. The pictures could be nothing more than a nod to the wine bar's name (and presumably original theme, even though that's been lost.) However, if you lean in close to one of these pictures and whisper a certain phrase, you can then pass through the blue door and end up... somewhere else. Storage and Workshop The entrance to the bar leads to a storage area/workshop. There are shelves crowded with dusty bottles, giant oak barrels lining the halls, shining vats and worktables and bottling equipment, etc. One section is given over to mundane brewing and winemaking; in another area, various goblin fruit and oddments are being dried, steeped, pickled, fermented, etc. At one point there is even a tasting area, where brews mundane and magical can be tested. The walls are wooden in some places and brick in others, the floor dirt, but something about the air gives the distinct impression that one is underground… perhaps amid the roots of a giant tree. Holly's Quarters At least part of the Hollow DOES turn out to be in and among the roots of a giant tree, as one way out of the workshop area is through a ladder that leads straight up, through what is eventually unmistakable as a hollowed-out area of a very large tree indeed. A good ways up it emerges into fresh air, about halfway up an impossibly-wide thorn tree in the Hedge, on the bottom floor of what appears to be a large treehouse. Rope ladders and rope bridges stretch away in various directions, leading to other platforms, and vines bursting with fragrant, colorful flowers twine around everything. There are three rope ladders on the right, the last one of which seems to go all the way up to the top of the tree. Although the whole thing is open, airy, and exposed, the higher one goes, the more one can see various contraptions and vines whose flowers look less decorative and more predatory, off the periphery of the whole treehouse set-up - it is more securely guarded than it appears at first glance. Climbing the ladder all the way to the top, it leads up through the floor of a high platform - a bower, more accurately. It looks out over the hedge, higher than almost any other high enough to give a mostly clear view for a long distance. Thick, leafy vines cover the top and drape over the sides; it is angled so that the rays of the rising and setting sun will filter through the leaves to cast gold and purple shadows into the little room. A multitude of books are stacked in various spots around the little room, all in places designed to protect them from the elements. In the center is, not a bed, but a giant hammock, hanging from the ceiling and swaying gently. Slats on either end keep it wide and open, and the fabric is obviously hedgespun - strong, but incredibly soft to the touch. A warm spring breeze moves through the bower, carrying the scent of flowers - not too hot, not too cold.